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Off topic, but: "Apple is doing the right thing in challenging the federal court ruling requiring that it comply" I am not a native English speaker. Why "it co
by mrb 11y ago
Off topic, but: "Apple is doing the right thing in challenging the federal court ruling requiring that it comply"
I am not a native English speaker. Why "it comply" and not "it complies"?
- deleted 11y ago[deleted]
- unfamiliar 11y agoIn this context, comply means "cooperate with the courts" or "do what the courts ask."
- chillingeffect 11y agoSubjunctive tense. Since it is still not known whether they will comply or not, the verb is unconjugated. Writing "it complies" would be confusing. It's highly proper grammar and not used in everyday spoken speech and not used all the time in most written speech, but since this is more formal and written, it's used. It's one thing the NYT gets right.
- Joof 11y agoNative speaker here; I knew it was correct, but I couldn't answer this question. Thanks.
- pc2g4d 11y agoNitpick: subjunctive _mood_, not _tense_. From the Wikipedia article on English subjunctive: "The distinction between present and past is one of tense; the distinction between indicative and subjunctive is one of mood."
- mrb 11y agoThank you! We live to learn. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_subjunctive https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_subjunctive
- IshKebab 11y agoI think you're probably right - it should be "... requiring it to comply" or "... requiring that it complies". The original is not very wrong though - I don't think most native English people would even notice.
- whiddershins 11y agoFuture tense. Read it with the word "should" or "shall" implied. "ruling requiring that it should comply"
- jnbiche 11y agoNope, not the future, and not even a tense. It's the subjective mood (or mode, alternately).